“It’s so nice to see you smiling”: Zendaya and Her Co-stars Were Pushed to a Darker Place For Their Villain-esque Roles in ‘Challengers’
Along with Dune: Part 2 and the third season of HBO’s Euphoria, the audience will see Zendaya in her next film, Challengers. One of the most anticipated films of the year is Challengers, since the actress appeared in the trailer portraying an intriguing character that viewers may not have previously seen her portray.
The movie is written by Justin Kuritzkes and directed by Luca Guadagnino of Call Me By Your Name. The plot revolves around a Grand Slam tennis winner who has registered to compete against an ex-lover of his wife and coach in a challenger event. The movie is supposedly about tennis, but not really because it focuses more on the negative effects of failing on a global stage.
Zendaya steps into the world of Villains with Challengers
Zendaya stars alongside Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist in Challengers and in a recent cover story interview for VMagazine she hopped into her journalist hat real quick to speak to O’Connor about his experience of working on the movie. During the conversation, she described their characters as ‘villain-esque’. Zendaya plays Tashi Duncan, Josh O’Connor plays Patrick and Mike Faist plays Art Donaldson in the movie.
The actress went ahead to ask O’Connor about how he decided to pick Challengers, to which he said that he has a very clear idea of what kind of actor he would like to be and what kind of work he’d want to put his mind into, adding that he has not figure everything as of now but he’d figuring it out as he goes along.
He continued, “We all knew the script was amazing. But then, you add to that. There’s an amazing team here–there’s you, Mike, Luca, Amy [Pascal], and MGM. So you know it’s going to be different. I think the script is the first pull, but then the director makes a big difference. Sometimes you just have that link with someone, and you’re like, “I’m just going to follow your lead.”
Zendaya chimes in with her opinion, stating that for her it was the script that made her sign up for the project, adding that the director is good at thinking about the script through script-carving out things. They added that their characters are horrible but the actress noted that it was fun playing them.
Also read: “Married with a kid”: Zendaya Takes on Another Big Challenge That Would Leave Her Fans Speechless
Josh O’Connor tells Zendaya his friends’ reaction to the trailer of Challengers
As the two of them spoke about their characters being horrible and villain-esque in the movie, O’Connor shared with the actress,
“We just released the trailer this week, and a few of my friends were like, “Oh my god, it’s so nice to see you smiling in a film.” And I was like, “Oh god.” If they think they can see the real Josh with an American accent, this is not it. I am not like this, I promise.”
Zendaya, in her interview with Elle, spoke about her character and revealed that she still does not understand the decisions her character makes. They’ve had many conversations about her psychology and why she is like that, but what was important for her was the fact that she was unapologetic about it. Z added,
“Sometimes characters who are messy and conflicted and wield power over other people are reserved for [actors] who don’t look like me, so when I get an opportunity to play a character like that, I’ma take it!”
Also read: Zendaya Introduced a Strange Tradition During Nightmare Schedule of ‘Challengers’
Zendaya on entering an era of risk with Challengers
The actress in an interview with Elle shared that taking up Challengers is going to transition her into playing more grown-up roles since she cannot play a teenager for the rest of her life. She said,
“I felt like it was a good step into a more, I guess you could say, ‘grown-up’ role and into that next phase.” Zendaya is going to appear as the leading lady for the first time in Challengers. Explaining the nervousness and the jitters one feels, the exceptionally talented actress said,
“It was a little bit scary to take on, which I think is a good feeling. To be like, ‘Ooh, can I do this?’ You could run from that feeling and stay safe and comfortable, or you can go, ‘You know what, f**k it.'”
The movie has grabbed the attention of the audience because of the sensual scenes in it. The actress explains that the director is really good at finding sensuality and desire, mentioning that there is so much in glances which makes it very interesting.
Challengers is scheduled for a release in the UK on April 26, 2024.
Source: VMagazine
